Jeffrey S. Brooks (2012).Black School White School: Racism and Educational (Mis)Leadership. Teachers College Press B. Summary of book's argument
How do race and race relations influence leadership practice and the education of students? In this timely and provocative book, Brooks, Jeffrey S. identifies cultural and unstated norms and beliefs around race and race relations, and explores how these dynamics influence the kind of education students receive. Drawing on findings from extensive observations, interviews, and documents, the author reveals that many decisions that should have been based on pedagogy (or what is best for students) were instead inspired by conscious and unconscious racist assumptions, discrimination, and stereotypes. With applicable implications and lessons for all, this book will help schools and leadership programs to take the next step in addressing longstanding and deeply entrenched inequity and inequality in schools. This book features: (1) An in-depth portrait of a high school serving predominantly African American students that reveals how racism influences educational leadership; (2) Research-based strategies to help principals and teachers recognize and then address the "invisible" racism in their practices; and (3) A conversation with educational scholar Bill Ayers about key themes of racism in education and society. （Jeffrey S.Brooks，2012）
C.Brief description of author's background.
Jeffrey S.Brooks is associate professor and program coordinator of Educational Administration at Lowa State University, and editor of the Journal of School Leadership. According to his homepage of Dr. Jeffrey S. Brook web site, he said “I have written two full-length books based on my research, Black School, White School: Racism and Educational (Mis)leadership (2012, Teachers College Press) and The Dark Side of School Reform: Teaching in the Space Between Reality and Utopia (2006, Rowman & Littlefield). I have also co-edited five books: What Every Principal Needs to know to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools (with George Theoharis, 2012, Teachers College Press), Confronting racism in higher education: Problems and possibilities for fighting ignorance, bigotry and isolation (with Noelle Witherspoon Arnold, 2013, Information Age Publishing), Anti-racist school leadership: Toward equity in education for America’s students (with Noelle Witherspoon Arnold, 2013, Information Age Publishing), Juggling flaming chainsaws: Academics in educational leadership try to balance work and family (with Joanne Marshall, Kathleen Brown, Leslie Hazle Bussey, Bonnie Fusarelli, Mark Gooden, Catherine Lugg, Latish Reed and George Theoharis, 2012, Information Age Publishing), and Radicalizing Educational Leadership: Toward a Theory of Social Justice (with Ira Bogotch, Floyd Beachum, Jackie Blount and Fenwick English, 2008, Sense Publishing). I have written 23 peer-reviewed journal articles, 21 book chapters, and many other research publications. I have chaired 11 completed dissertation studies and have been an active member on many other dissertation committees.
I believe that high-quality research, culturally relevant teaching and proactive leadership for social justice can improve children’s lives and educational experiences. To me, nothing is more important. I also believe strongly that it is my responsibility as an educator to create professional opportunities for students, educators and other scholars.
I conduct research using a variety of interdisciplinary conceptual frameworks and primarily conduct research using qualitative and mixed-method ethnographic methods in both domestic and international settings. My recent publications have focused on racism, race relations, culture, instructional leadership and social justice in K-12 practice and in administrator preparation programs. I have studied:
1. Educational leadership practice and preparation
2. Education and racism
3. Education and globalization
4. International education
5. The social contexts and dynamics of schools
6. Leadership for social justice
7. Instructional leadership
8. School reform” （Jeffrey S.Brooks，2013） D. Research QuestionsDoes demographic changes has some influence on educational leadership? If it has, is it a negative or positive? Who will lead and teach in these schools? How will misleadership affect students, teachers, and administrators? What effort can we take to move toward a better education in the future? E.Reflection Contributing to Class Knowledge
Introduction
According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2004) ，by 2050, the non-Hispanic, White population will comprise only 50.1% of the country’s total population, a sharp decline from the 77.1% of the population in the 2000 census. However, as the nation’s population grows increasingly diverse, schoolteachers and educational administrators are increasingly White. Gay (1997) estimated that the number of teachers of color has declined from 12% in the 1970s to 6% in the 1990s and that statistics for school administrators of color are similarly discouraging. The 2003-2004 School and Staffing Survey estimated the total distribution of “minority” principals in public schools at 17.6 percent, although the minority student population was estimated at 39.7 percent (Strizek, Pittsonberger, Riordan, Lyter, & Orlofsky, 2006).
These changes influence some school-based dynamics:
1）Leadership and School Culture
2）Direct effects on teachers and indirect effects on students
3）School Sub-culture
A moiety of two racial sub-cultures
Each half had different:
1) Norms: procedures, expectations of members, and measures of success
2) Beliefs: Personal, collective, and sub-group The two halves interacted in a manner of race relations:
Complementarily ¡The moieties worked together to accomplish certain technocratic tasks and goals Reciprocity ¡Inter-moiety exchanges were usually transactional, while intra-moiety exchanges were transformational Antithesis ¡Each half of the moiety harbored resentment and mistrust of the other, for different reasons Rivalry
Members of each half of the moiety were in competition for scarce resources and trying to implement different social missions
Racism sometimes is screaming and sometimes silent. There are several different types of the silent language of racism. For example, temporality has two characters
1) There were striking differences between the ways that Black and White educators in Dubois viewed time. White educators often expressed an impatience that drove them to great frustration:
-“I’m a change agent. I’m here to shake things up and make things happen ASAP. I don’t have time and I don’t have patience for people who just make excuses.”
2) Black educators showed a great deal more patience and an understanding that for educational change to take hold, it would take among other things a great deal of time, sustained progress and steady change:
-“There are no silver bullets, no quick-fix solutions to all of this.”
-“We need to stop focusing on year-to-year gains and benchmarks, that is distracting us from the fact that real change takes years, even decades, to take hold.”
Educational misleadership:
Misleadership is behaviors that prevent the attainment of goals, or that prioritize individual goals over group goals. Through data collection, the author concludes that they fell into four themes:
-incompetence
-indifference and apathy
-avoidance
-unethical behavior
-incompetence
Basic incompetence related to not knowing school and district procedures, as well as to content knowledge and pedagogical acumen, on a weekly basis. This was due partially to the high turnover of teachers at the school, frequent changes in these policies and the fact that there was a generally low level of accountability at the school. Educators seldom were held responsible for incompetence. This lack of accountability extended so far that basic credentials required assuming teaching and administrative positions at the school frequently were waived or ignored.
-indifference and apathy
At high school there several instances where educators did not take the time to get to know one another, the students, or parents. One particularly embarrassing incident occurred when two students won National Merit Awards. The awards were not given because no administrators could pronounce their names, one of whom was Kenyan and the other Japanese. It’s common that teachers don’t know each others’ names, their students’ names, and students’ parents’ names. Interestingly, Black educators were much likely to know the names of Black students, teachers and parents, and White educators were much likely to know the names of White students, teachers and parents.
Indifference and apathy also take place in form of an instance of the principal falling asleep during a teaching observation. More than 75% of the interviewees (the teachers) mentioned this event to illustrate how little the principal was concerned with teachers in general, and with instruction in particular. However, since the principal and the observed teacher were both black. It’ interesting to see black and white teachers has totally different interpretation on this event. White teachers said this is the ultimate slap in the face to the school’s teachers. Black teachers were by and large more forgiving.
Teachers often mentioned that they had been lied to and most of they don't trust the administrators.
Teacher’s role in eliminating racism in the classroom One tactic a teacher could utilize to remove racism from classrooms is to take a critical look at the materials which the students use to learn. Despite the recent trend of multicultural literature, many school texts remain monoculture in their presentation of knowledge. Teachers should select texts that represent non-mainstream persons positively. (Henson p.419) Some believe that the curriculum, through its texts, ought to describe the ways different cultural groups have contributed to western civilization to eliminate racism. Texts should also promote equity of people with mental and physical handicaps, the gifted, the elderly and between the genders. (Henson, p.424) The latter may be accomplished by portraying men and women in roles traditionally held by the opposite sex.
Cooperative learning groups are not only an effective tool to stimulate academic growth through participation, but they may also be a successful vehicle to help eliminate racism. Through the creation of a team, a micro-society, educators can attempt to break down the superficial barriers that students may see when they are individuals. Group work exposes individual attitudes, ideas, experiences, and beliefs that are used to achieve a common goal through a collective effort. Group work leads to better understanding of the task at hand, the dynamics of team-work, which will be valuable in later stages of life, and opens the lines of communication between group members despite race, sex, age or religion. (Powell, p.3-4)
Other methods to help eliminate racism may include a variety of active learning strategies through different multi-sensory learning styles. One popular practice was to expose children to racism and how the sting of discrimination felt by using the blue eye/green eye experiment, which favored students and gave them preferential treatment based on their eye color. Multicultural days exploring different cultures, religions, and the history of different races may also occur. Some schools practice a zero-tolerance policy to discourage the practice of racism and other undesirable behaviours, which may result in the removal of the offending student from that particular school. (Abbeduto, p.332)
Students must learn that racism is an unfortunate part of our society and that attempting to eliminate in schools is a step in the right direction. They must also realize that racism will exist despite their creation of posters and plays and that changing the thought processes and perceptions of certain people cannot be done overnight or even at all. Students should prepare themselves for the harsh reality.
This should not, however, discourage the student in his crusade for moral justice. The student will be better prepared armed with the knowledge that this shall be a lengthy and challenging process.
Moving toward a new educational leadership
It’s important that white men who lead listen first, support and advocate for underrepresented and oppressed peoples, and, using their privilege, create opportunitities for others. Self-aggrandizement and self-promotion are a form of oppression that will only lead us back to another form of white privilege.
A. Citation for book. (In APA style)
Jeffrey S. Brooks (2012).Black School White School: Racism and Educational (Mis)Leadership. Teachers College Press
B. Summary of book's argument
How do race and race relations influence leadership practice and the education of students? In this timely and provocative book, Brooks, Jeffrey S. identifies cultural and unstated norms and beliefs around race and race relations, and explores how these dynamics influence the kind of education students receive. Drawing on findings from extensive observations, interviews, and documents, the author reveals that many decisions that should have been based on pedagogy (or what is best for students) were instead inspired by conscious and unconscious racist assumptions, discrimination, and stereotypes. With applicable implications and lessons for all, this book will help schools and leadership programs to take the next step in addressing longstanding and deeply entrenched inequity and inequality in schools. This book features: (1) An in-depth portrait of a high school serving predominantly African American students that reveals how racism influences educational leadership; (2) Research-based strategies to help principals and teachers recognize and then address the "invisible" racism in their practices; and (3) A conversation with educational scholar Bill Ayers about key themes of racism in education and society. （Jeffrey S.Brooks，2012）
C. Brief description of author's background.
Jeffrey S.Brooks is associate professor and program coordinator of Educational Administration at Lowa State University, and editor of the Journal of School Leadership. According to his homepage of Dr. Jeffrey S. Brook web site, he said “I have written two full-length books based on my research, Black School, White School: Racism and Educational (Mis)leadership (2012, Teachers College Press) and The Dark Side of School Reform: Teaching in the Space Between Reality and Utopia (2006, Rowman & Littlefield). I have also co-edited five books: What Every Principal Needs to know to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools (with George Theoharis, 2012, Teachers College Press), Confronting racism in higher education: Problems and possibilities for fighting ignorance, bigotry and isolation (with Noelle Witherspoon Arnold, 2013, Information Age Publishing), Anti-racist school leadership: Toward equity in education for America’s students (with Noelle Witherspoon Arnold, 2013, Information Age Publishing), Juggling flaming chainsaws: Academics in educational leadership try to balance work and family (with Joanne Marshall, Kathleen Brown, Leslie Hazle Bussey, Bonnie Fusarelli, Mark Gooden, Catherine Lugg, Latish Reed and George Theoharis, 2012, Information Age Publishing), and Radicalizing Educational Leadership: Toward a Theory of Social Justice (with Ira Bogotch, Floyd Beachum, Jackie Blount and Fenwick English, 2008, Sense Publishing). I have written 23 peer-reviewed journal articles, 21 book chapters, and many other research publications. I have chaired 11 completed dissertation studies and have been an active member on many other dissertation committees.
I believe that high-quality research, culturally relevant teaching and proactive leadership for social justice can improve children’s lives and educational experiences. To me, nothing is more important. I also believe strongly that it is my responsibility as an educator to create professional opportunities for students, educators and other scholars.
I conduct research using a variety of interdisciplinary conceptual frameworks and primarily conduct research using qualitative and mixed-method ethnographic methods in both domestic and international settings. My recent publications have focused on racism, race relations, culture, instructional leadership and social justice in K-12 practice and in administrator preparation programs. I have studied:
1. Educational leadership practice and preparation
2. Education and racism
3. Education and globalization
4. International education
5. The social contexts and dynamics of schools
6. Leadership for social justice
7. Instructional leadership
8. School reform” （Jeffrey S.Brooks，2013）
D. Research QuestionsDoes demographic changes has some influence on educational leadership? If it has, is it a negative or positive? Who will lead and teach in these schools? How will misleadership affect students, teachers, and administrators? What effort can we take to move toward a better education in the future?
E. Reflection
Contributing to Class Knowledge
Introduction
According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2004) ，by 2050, the non-Hispanic, White population will comprise only 50.1% of the country’s total population, a sharp decline from the 77.1% of the population in the 2000 census. However, as the nation’s population grows increasingly diverse, schoolteachers and educational administrators are increasingly White. Gay (1997) estimated that the number of teachers of color has declined from 12% in the 1970s to 6% in the 1990s and that statistics for school administrators of color are similarly discouraging. The 2003-2004 School and Staffing Survey estimated the total distribution of “minority” principals in public schools at 17.6 percent, although the minority student population was estimated at 39.7 percent (Strizek, Pittsonberger, Riordan, Lyter, & Orlofsky, 2006).
These changes influence some school-based dynamics:
1）Leadership and School Culture
2）Direct effects on teachers and indirect effects on students
3）School Sub-culture
A moiety of two racial sub-cultures
Each half had different:
1) Norms: procedures, expectations of members, and measures of success
2) Beliefs: Personal, collective, and sub-group
The two halves interacted in a manner of race relations:
Complementarily
¡The moieties worked together to accomplish certain technocratic tasks and goals
Reciprocity
¡Inter-moiety exchanges were usually transactional, while intra-moiety exchanges were transformational
Antithesis
¡Each half of the moiety harbored resentment and mistrust of the other, for different reasons
Rivalry
Members of each half of the moiety were in competition for scarce resources and trying to implement different social missions
Racism sometimes is screaming and sometimes silent. There are several different types of the silent language of racism. For example, temporality has two characters
1) There were striking differences between the ways that Black and White educators in Dubois viewed time. White educators often expressed an impatience that drove them to great frustration:
-“I’m a change agent. I’m here to shake things up and make things happen ASAP. I don’t have time and I don’t have patience for people who just make excuses.”
2) Black educators showed a great deal more patience and an understanding that for educational change to take hold, it would take among other things a great deal of time, sustained progress and steady change:
-“There are no silver bullets, no quick-fix solutions to all of this.”
-“We need to stop focusing on year-to-year gains and benchmarks, that is distracting us from the fact that real change takes years, even decades, to take hold.”
Educational misleadership:
Misleadership is behaviors that prevent the attainment of goals, or that prioritize individual goals over group goals. Through data collection, the author concludes that they fell into four themes:
-incompetence
-indifference and apathy
-avoidance
-unethical behavior
-incompetence
Basic incompetence related to not knowing school and district procedures, as well as to content knowledge and pedagogical acumen, on a weekly basis. This was due partially to the high turnover of teachers at the school, frequent changes in these policies and the fact that there was a generally low level of accountability at the school. Educators seldom were held responsible for incompetence. This lack of accountability extended so far that basic credentials required assuming teaching and administrative positions at the school frequently were waived or ignored.
-indifference and apathy
At high school there several instances where educators did not take the time to get to know one another, the students, or parents. One particularly embarrassing incident occurred when two students won National Merit Awards. The awards were not given because no administrators could pronounce their names, one of whom was Kenyan and the other Japanese. It’s common that teachers don’t know each others’ names, their students’ names, and students’ parents’ names. Interestingly, Black educators were much likely to know the names of Black students, teachers and parents, and White educators were much likely to know the names of White students, teachers and parents.
Indifference and apathy also take place in form of an instance of the principal falling asleep during a teaching observation. More than 75% of the interviewees (the teachers) mentioned this event to illustrate how little the principal was concerned with teachers in general, and with instruction in particular. However, since the principal and the observed teacher were both black. It’ interesting to see black and white teachers has totally different interpretation on this event. White teachers said this is the ultimate slap in the face to the school’s teachers. Black teachers were by and large more forgiving.
Teachers often mentioned that they had been lied to and most of they don't trust the administrators.
Teacher’s role in eliminating racism in the classroom
One tactic a teacher could utilize to remove racism from classrooms is to take a critical look at the materials which the students use to learn. Despite the recent trend of multicultural literature, many school texts remain monoculture in their presentation of knowledge. Teachers should select texts that represent non-mainstream persons positively. (Henson p.419) Some believe that the curriculum, through its texts, ought to describe the ways different cultural groups have contributed to western civilization to eliminate racism. Texts should also promote equity of people with mental and physical handicaps, the gifted, the elderly and between the genders. (Henson, p.424) The latter may be accomplished by portraying men and women in roles traditionally held by the opposite sex.
Cooperative learning groups are not only an effective tool to stimulate academic growth through participation, but they may also be a successful vehicle to help eliminate racism. Through the creation of a team, a micro-society, educators can attempt to break down the superficial barriers that students may see when they are individuals. Group work exposes individual attitudes, ideas, experiences, and beliefs that are used to achieve a common goal through a collective effort. Group work leads to better understanding of the task at hand, the dynamics of team-work, which will be valuable in later stages of life, and opens the lines of communication between group members despite race, sex, age or religion. (Powell, p.3-4)
Other methods to help eliminate racism may include a variety of active learning strategies through different multi-sensory learning styles. One popular practice was to expose children to racism and how the sting of discrimination felt by using the blue eye/green eye experiment, which favored students and gave them preferential treatment based on their eye color. Multicultural days exploring different cultures, religions, and the history of different races may also occur. Some schools practice a zero-tolerance policy to discourage the practice of racism and other undesirable behaviours, which may result in the removal of the offending student from that particular school. (Abbeduto, p.332)
Students must learn that racism is an unfortunate part of our society and that attempting to eliminate in schools is a step in the right direction. They must also realize that racism will exist despite their creation of posters and plays and that changing the thought processes and perceptions of certain people cannot be done overnight or even at all. Students should prepare themselves for the harsh reality.
This should not, however, discourage the student in his crusade for moral justice. The student will be better prepared armed with the knowledge that this shall be a lengthy and challenging process.
Moving toward a new educational leadership
It’s important that white men who lead listen first, support and advocate for underrepresented and oppressed peoples, and, using their privilege, create opportunitities for others. Self-aggrandizement and self-promotion are a form of oppression that will only lead us back to another form of white privilege.
Source：
Abbeduto, L. 2000. "Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Educational Psychology " Guilford: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill
Black School White School: Racism and Educational (Mis) Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2013, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED529870&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED529870
Dr. Jeffrey S. Brooks. (n.d.). Dr. Jeffrey S. Brooks. Retrieved July 14, 2013, from http://www.jeffreysbrooks.com/
Eliminating Racism in the Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2013, from http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/racism_morgan.html
Henson, K. 2001. "Curriculum Planning: Integrating Multiculturalism, Constructivism, and Educational Reform: 2nd Edition" Boston: McGraw-Hill
Powell, R, Cantrell, S, Adams, S. "Saving Black Mountain: The Promise of Critical Literacy in a Multicultural Democracy" in Reading Teacher. May 2001. Volume 54. Issue 8.